The present invention relates to a group-controlled elevator system, and more particularly to a group-controlled elevator system with the function of adapting operation of elevators to a utilization state of the elevators peculiar to each building.
In the group control of elevators, a "prompt reservation system" is generally used in which a utilization state of elevator cars is predicted and compared to determine an elevator car for a guest who has arrived at an elevator hall so that assignment and reservation guidance of the elevator are made to the guest. However, since the utilization state of elevator cars is changed momently and the change of the utilization state can not be predicted perfectly, it is impossible to make the assignment so that every assignment is "optimum" or a desire of the guest is fully satisfied. Origins or causes which give rise to an assignment which can not satisfy the desire of the guest are considered as follows:
1 when unpredictable abrupt demand occurs; PA0 2 when the desire of the guest is not satisfied by any assignment since a transportation capability of the elevators is lacking; PA0 3 when there is a problem in a prediction method, a control method, various setting conditions or the like; and PA0 4 when there is a problem in a utilization method of elevators by guests.
When assignment which can not satisfy a desire of the guests is repeated due to the origin or cause 3 of the above-described origins, a claim (or demand, desire, proposition, opinion, request, question, interrogation, indication, advice, warning, disaffection, complaint, disrepute, inconvenience or the like, and hereinafter referred to as a claim generically) relating to operation of the elevator cars, for example a claim that some guests can not get in an elevator car, that is, short shipment, or a waiting time is long, is made on a design and maintenance department from the guest (a mere user of the elevator) or user (owner of the building). Further, even if no claim is made actually, there is a phenomenon that the operation efficiency of the elevator cars is reduced temporarily, and hence a group-controlled elevator system in which phenomena causing the claim and reduction of the operation efficiency do not occur is desired.
Accordingly, for example, a method as disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 58-52162 in which traffic flow data peculiar to each building is learned and the data is used to correct prediction parameters or control parameters or a method as disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication Nos. 63-247278 and 64-22772 in which when assignment fails, a control rule used for the assignment is corrected or removed are heretofore known. These methods are to adapt the group-controlled elevator system to a building in which the system is installed, while since a correction scope of the system is limited, all origins or causes can not be improved.
Thus, when these methods are used but the claim phenomenon is not improved, a person participating in design and maintenance investigates an actual operation state of the elevator in the building and estimates an origin of the claim phenomenon to make a countermeasure therefor so that the operation of the elevator is improved. Heretofore, in order to reduce such work of the person, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 60-258076, for example, discloses a maintenance apparatus which produces data required by the maintenance person, and Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 62-100384 discloses a trouble diagnostic apparatus which records data in a failure or abnormality and facilitates an investigation of an origin by the maintenance person. Further, as a result of the investigation of the actual operation state of the elevator, there is a case that the claim phenomenon is caused by the above-described reason 4. In such a case, education of the utilization method of the elevator is made through an administrative person of a building.
On the other hand, as a prior art in which a knowledge processing method is applied to the group-controlled elevator system, a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 63-242873 as well as the above-mentioned Publication No. 64-22772 is known in which a rule base is used to predict and estimate an operation state of the elevator upon the assignment. [Problems that the Invention is to Solve]
As described above, since the conventional automatic correction technique possesses limited correction scope, the correction technique can not cope with all claim phenomena and operation efficiency reduction and it is necessary to correct the claim phenomena and operation efficiency reduction exceeding the correction scope by the person.
Further, there is a problem that the improvement of the claim phenomenon by means of the investigation of the actual operation state in the building is a large burden such as labor, time and expense to the side participating in design and maintenance of the elevator and the building administrative side.